A (relatively) new Atheist at seekinghistruthblog.wordpress.com had some things to say about

BEING A CHRISTIAN VS BEING AN ATHEIST
(MY EXPERIENCE)

Someone asked this in one of my groups:
What does an Atheist claim to see when holding a mirror to their mindset?

This made me think about how I used to feel and think and how I feel and think now.

What I used to see when I was Christian was a broken, sick, failing, struggling, worthless, unworthy, imperfect, felt-like-I-didn’t-belong anywhere, fearful, trapped, did not think I was judgmental but I was, person who was awaiting death to find freedom. The only beauty I saw was in something I was taught was there, but I could never see. I had moments I felt loved, but only when I felt I had asked for forgiveness for being me enough, or tried to be someone I wasn’t enough, which almost destroyed me many times.

What I see as an Atheist is a courageous, beautiful, caring, compassionate, loving, kind, strong, worthy, patient, understanding, nonjudgmental (my judgment resides in a space for when people cause harm to other people and animals for unjust immoral reasons), healing, desire to experience being human, mentally and emotionally free me. I struggle, but my struggles don’t carry so much weight. I fail, but I keep trying and see that each failure is one step closer to success. I’m imperfect but now realize that perfection doesn’t exist, as we are all so beautifully unique. I see beauty in this world I never saw before. I see me!

When all you have is God, you lose so much of your own humanity chasing a nonexistent deity and suppressing yourself. You lose more in a lifetime than you could ever imagine. Those spaces in my life when I was a Christian were stolen from me, as I was indoctrinated as a small child. It was time I could have experienced being human and not living in constant fear, inner turmoil, guilt-ridden, pain, and suffering, all coated in “God loves me and wants me to be this way or that, or I’ll burn in hell forever.” While I was singing, My chains have been loosed; I was carrying the heaviest of them on my shoulders. A burden I should’ve never had to bear.

This cat is no longer a Republican kitten, because their eyes are opened.  I think that they’ve come a long way, in a short time.  What do you think?  😀